Eliza R. Snow Believed in Santa Claus

Remember your time-honor'd laws,
Kind master of the merry glee:
Prepare your gifts, good Santa Claus,
And hang them on the Christmas tree.


And where no Christmas trees are found,
With liberal hand your gifts distill;
The bags and stockings hanging round,
Great Santa Claus, be sure to fill.

Untie your purse--enlarge your heart--
O, do not pass one single door;
And in your gen'rous walk impart
Your comforts to the sick and poor.

When eyes are watching for the morn,
In humble hut and cottage too;
How disappointed and forlorn,
If missed, dear Santa Claus, by you.

Go all the rounds of baby-hood,
And bless and cheer the hearts of all
The "little folks," and please be good
To those who're not so very small.

~Eliza R. Snow, Dec 1868

I'm taking this poem from my new book, "Eliza R. Snow, the Complete Poetry." It's 1290 pages. Whew!! I cannot believe how prolific she was. Dedicated to those who didn't get anything under the tree this year. :(